100th Paris-Tours - ProT

France, October 8, 2006

Frédéric "Gabon" is Mister Guesdon again

Was Frédéric Guesdon a surprise winner of Paris-Roubaix in 1997? His consistency
in the classics is now crowned by a confirmation at the age of 35. By winning
the 100th edition of Paris-Tours as well - ahead of Norwegian fast man Kurt-Asle
Arvesen - the Française des Jeux rider has put aside all the criticisms over
his never-ending career.

This is his second win this year. This first one occurred in January: it was
the prologue of the newly created Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon. After that,
his teammates nicknamed him "Frédéric Gabon". It was kind of a joke as if Africa
was the only place for him to win a race nowadays. Some voices in the world
of cycling criticized FDJ's boss Marc Madiot for signing Guesdon and his best
mate Christophe Mengin again. On the team's jerseys this year, it's written
"10ème saison" (10th season). Guesdon and Mengin are doing their 10th season
with FDJ. They both made the top 10 of Paris-Roubaix again this year and they'll
both still be there again next year, because Madiot is always faithful to the
riders who do their job properly, whatever their age is, as long as they stay
motivated.

"I just love cycling, that's why I'm still here", a happy Guesdon said. "In
Brittany, we love cycling. This morning, my roommate Arnaud Gérard and I put
a brand new jersey on as a mark of respect for Paris-Tours, because this race
is a myth. There are a few special races in my mind: the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix,
the French championship, the GP Plouay and Paris-Tours. I might not be a great
rider and many people have considered me as a surprise winner of Paris-Roubaix,
there have been highs and lows in my career like in anyone's but I have proven
with my consistent results in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders that I
was made for these races.

"The Tour de France isn't for me anymore but in the classics, the team can
always count on me. I'm serious with my cycling. There's no age limit for winning
races."

It's possible for a Frenchman to win a Pro Tour race, then! "ProTour or not
ProTour, we love winning a race," Madiot declared. A race is a race. Every race
is difficult to win. Today, we don't care whether it's a ProTour race or not.
It's Paris-Tours, and we've been so close to winning here a few times. We came
second with Max Sciandri and Jacky Durand, third with Baden Cooke, and last
year Philippe Gilbert only missed the win by 200 meters."

The Belgian prodigy was on fire in the chasing group today. He was ready to
jump if Guesdon was caught. "I thank him a lot for protecting me today," Guesdon
said. "Last year it was the opposite, it was my job to ride for him. He's still
young, I'm sure he'll win Paris-Tours or another big one pretty soon."

This FDJ-CSC duel on the 2km long avenue de Grammont looked like a remake
of the two man sprint between Jacky Durand and Jakob Piil in 2002. The Danes
had won the first heat, the Frenchmen got their revenge thanks to the Breton's
smart way of outsprinting the Norwegian who was supposedly faster than him.
"In cycling, you must always believe the wheels will turn in your favour again",
Guesdon concluded.

They hardly secured an advantage over one minute. The tailwind added to the
enthusiasm of the riders away, with 46.8 kilometres were covered during the
first hour and 49 in the second. The peloton was mainly led by Crédit Agricole,
one of the major teams without any representative in the front, the other ones
being Caisse d'Épargne, T-Mobile and Saunier Duval. The leading group lost Gusev
at km 60 because of a mechanical problem, while Arvesen made it back after a
flat tyre.

At km 110, the gap increased to 2'55. Under the pressure of the Discovery
Channel team, the peloton was divided in two with Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole),
Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Filippo Pozzato (Quick Step) and Stijn
Devolder (Discovery Channel) in the first part and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and
defending champion Erik Zabel (Milram) in the second one. Eventually, at km
134 in Savigny-sur-Braye, the chasers had given up, Hushovd's group was at 3'40
and Boonen's at 7 minutes. The biggest gap was 4'30 between the 27 men away
and the group of 44 chasers while Boonen and Zabel were definitely trapped and
pulled out in the feed zone located at km 149.

In the front, Liquigas wasn't the only team with three riders after Da Dalto
got dropped. With 60km to go, Hushovd's peloton was only 1'30 behind, but the
attacking never ceased in the leading group. With 15km to go, only 15 seconds
separated the two groups, that's why Guesdon chose to go solo. He made it in
the côte de l'Epan with 8km to go. Only Arvesen was able to reach the Française
des Jeux rider.

The duo never looked back until the flame rouge, where Guesdon decided to
stick to the Norwegian's wheel. The Frenchman rode a perfect sprint. He surged
with 200 meters to go and won his second big classic after Paris-Roubaix nine
years ago.